EPSRC’s £250 million investment to spur physics for the future

Institute of Physics

5 December 2008

New training centres for PhD students

The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) has today announced a £250 million investment in 44 new training centres to generate over 2000 PhD students, all researching and tackling some of the biggest problems currently facing Britain such as climate change, energy and digital security.

Physics has a vital role to play and 20 of the 44 centres explicitly devoted to physics disciplines reflects this; many of the other centres also rely on physics to underpin their work and will undoubtedly train and employ physics graduates.

Peter Main, director of education and science at the Institute of Physics (IOP), said, “This is very good news for physics and importantly mirrors some of the most important conclusions coming from this year’s review into the health of physics in the UK. The number of centres devoted to physics and those that will be, less obviously but just as vitally, underpinned by techniques introduced through physics research emphasises the need to keep the physics supply chain healthy.

“We can however only keep the supply chain truly healthy if we ensure that more people are taking physics at A-level and undergraduate level.”

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